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POLITICO 44

Former first lady Laura Bush on Friday compared President Barack Obama’s response to the oil spill off the Gulf Coast to her husband’s action after Hurricane Katrina.

Bush’s response to Katrina was widely derided as inadequate, just as Obama has been criticized for seeming too hands off in the more than a month since oil started gushing in the Gulf of Mexico.

But the former first lady said that neither man deserves blame for either Katrina or the oil spill, arguing that some things are out of a president’s hands.

“I think they're doing everything they can do — just like we did with Katrina,” Bush said during an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“It's not one person's responsibility,” she said. “The president can't do every single thing there is to do. …This is a huge ecological disaster.”

Asked for a response to critics who contend that both her husband and Obama are partially responsible for the lax attitude toward federal regulation that some say allowed the spill to happen, Bush said she didn’t think either man deserves blame.

“There is always a lot of finger-pointing in something like this,” she said. “I think what we should do is all come together to do everything we can to make sure the well is capped.”

Hey, thanks for sharing Laura! There's only one little difference that I can see between the handling of the situations. In Barry's case, he personally doesn't have a clue of what to do and he's surrounded by the same corporate hacks that have allowed our regulatory protections to go to hell for at least the past generation. Your husband on the other hand, while also clueless and surrounded by the aforementioned hacks, distinguished himself by not really giving a ****, especially for the folks trapped down in the lower reaches of New Orleans! I also believe, plausible deniability aside, that he gave a wink & nod to his good christian pal, Eric Prince and his Blackwater "relief" organization, to make sure that those "undesirable" elements stayed as far underwater as possible. Oh, by the way, did he ever tut-tut ol' Trent for making sure that his lil' bungalow down in Miss. was among the first properties rebuilt. I think not.

Except that one is a natural disaster and the other is and industrial accident. Which history shows is the responsibility of the private sector, namely the company that causes the disaster. Take the politics out of this both democrat and republican, spend less time on fixing the blame and more time on fixing the problem. Leave the blame game up to Limbaugh, Beck, Palin and the rest of the entertainment champions!!!!

@ AZvoter......Mrs. Bush may have class, but you certainly have none. Why do Republicans always delight in attacking someone's physical appearance to make their idiotic points?? I see that tactic used on Fox news and hear it come from the mouths of all the far right talking heads. It's always mean spirited, juvenile personal attacks on someone's appearance or mannerisms. I thought Limbaugh hit the scravy end when he mocked Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's tremor, but it has just gotten worse since Obama was elected. This is precisely why I changed my political affiliation from Republican (after 30 yrs.) to Independent.....because I, too, like to think I have some class.

Her dolt husband was in Michigan this week, defending his waterboarding techniques, starting false wars, saying his biggest mistake as president was not raping social security (oh, I mean, reforming it)....

because everyone is sick and tired of the propaganda that michele the goon is a beautiful woman! She is extremely ugly and that's probably not her fault-there are millions of ugly people in any race and she is definitely one of them-for the first year of obama in the White House-you saw her hideous face and bull--- about her looks and arms-give the Country a break and keep her under cover! Maybe some think black is beautiful-well this woman is NOT!

but more than half of those lives were self inflicted-they should have left like they were told to do but chose to stay behind and suck off the free system and loot everything in sight. Well it bckfired and there vacation turned into a nightmare-and if you look at the outcome of everything Katrina was labeled a man-made disaster so they people and parish officels could sue the Corps of Engineers!

And now we know, Miss Laura lives in lala land with her husband. All those years, I thought she had more substance but just didn't want to outshine the Pres. But now, it's the same ole, blind loyalty to a man and his irresponsible policies. She is worried about her legacy. After all, this is the garbage she passed on to her children. Meekly standing by a man who is the worst president in US history.

This is just a Republican talking point to distract from the pitiful response of Bush's appointee at FEMA.

First of all, the disasters are completely different---one is a natural disaster; the other is an industrial accident.

Second of all, the oil spill is a far harder disaster to deal with than the levy failure. The technical challenges of capping a leaking pipe a mile beneath the ocean are extreme, much harder than repairing a levy and pumping out the flooded areas.

Third, the oil rig disaster began with a sudden explosion, whereas the hurricane was being tracked for days.

Fourth, BP was expected to be able to handle its own oil rig blowout---in fact it certified that it could handle any resulting leak from a blowout in order to get the permit (of course that claim turned out to be false). FEMA was expected to be the government agency to handle emergencies exactly like the New Orleans disaster. In fact, a levy failure at New Orleans was the second most expected disaster that FEMA was expected to address (after a terrorist strike on New York and before an earthquake in Los Angeles). FEMA failed so badly to handle the disaster because George Bush appointed an unqualified crony to run the place.

I disagree with those here that say Ms. Bush has such class. I think if she really had class, she would keep her opinions to herself regarding Obama's performance as compared to her husband's.

No Katrina's majority of deaths were brought on by people too stupid to leave and wanting to stay behind to loot! all the project trash wanted to loot and stay behind but were fooled when the dome took on the water! you libs will do and say anything to protect the useless!